Harold Kim, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, said the proposal for a class action rule in Mississippi should be rejected primarily because citizens already have an adequate forum for bringing class actions in federal courts.

The Institute for Legal Reforms said in comments to the state Supreme Court on the petition that allowing class-action lawsuits would only expand a system that plaintiffs’ lawyers already widely abuse. It says allowing state-level class actions would be bad for Mississippi’s economic competitiveness, Kim said.

A 2017 poll released by the organization said Mississippi’s lawsuit climate ranks No. 44 of 50 nationally.

“This matters because an all-time high 85 percent of business executives in the survey said they take a state’s lawsuit climate into consideration when deciding where to locate or expand," Kim said. "While Mississippi has taken some positive steps in recent years to improve, it can’t afford to step backward. Hopefully, the Mississippi Supreme Court will realize that state-level class actions are all downside and no upside.”

Mississippi is the only state in the nation in which there are no class actions available to its citizens in the state court system, said attorney Richard T. Phillips of Batesville, who filed the petition seeking class-action lawsuits.

"The absence of a class-action procedure in Mississippi denies, as a practical matter, the Mississippi courts, including this Mississippi Supreme Court, the ability to address the rapidly increasing number of disputes and issues involving state
law which arises from contracts and other transactions," Phillips said in the petition.

A state class-action procedure is needed to afford Mississippi citizens and businesses the rights enjoyed by those of every other state, where issues of state contract law are resolved and determined on an aggregate basis in the state court system, Phillips said.

Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure allows joinder, but there is no class action.The joinder rule says, "All persons may join in one action as plaintiffs if they assert any right to relief jointly, severally, or in the alternative in respect of or arising out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences, and if any question of law or fact common to all these persons will arise in the action."

But the state high court has strictly interpreted the joinder rule over the years, often denying some joinder cases.

Those for and opposed to class-action lawsuits have filed comments with the state Supreme Court petition. The court has given no timetable on when a decision will be made.

Last year, the Chamber paid $240,000 to a local lobbyist, Claire Hester, who has been lobbying for the organization for many years. A review of prior lobbying reports with the secretary of state's office shows her contract amount has been $120,000 in previous years. It is not clear if Hester is working on this particular issue.

Hester could not be reached for comment. Kim could not be reached a second time for comment on this matter.